


Haunted

by GreenBread



Series: TWDG: One Shot Collection [10]
Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Anxiety, Clementine Has PTSD (Walking Dead), Clementine Needs a Hug (Walking Dead), Depression, Gen, Schizophrenia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:34:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26351230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreenBread/pseuds/GreenBread
Summary: "You're going to fail." He said, rotten teeth clicking, tapping. His lone, foggy and charred hand landed on top of hers. A root of flinching frost settled over her skin. Unwillingly, she quivered. She felt weak, knees turning to jelly and she shook in place. Maternal instinct demanding her to roughly grab a handful of AJ's hair and squeeze as tight as she could. Just in case Lee was going to take him anywhere. Nothing was going to hurt him. The ghost of the man she held so dear looked back up at her. "You always do."Clementine thought taking care of a little boy would help erase the demons of her past. How wrong she was, they only got stronger.
Relationships: AJ | Alvin Jr. & Clementine (Walking Dead)
Series: TWDG: One Shot Collection [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1741540
Comments: 3
Kudos: 17





	Haunted

The soft mellows from the chirping birds were pleasant to her ears. A peculiar thing in a world dominated by the deceased. Creeps of frozen moonlight filtered through the billowing curtains and shattered window, entangled in a sudden flurry of wind. Wafts of rot and decay, an ever-permanent smell. There was nothing different to inhale when everything was dead. Visible particles of dust sprinkled through the thick air, visible in the arcing moonlight that tore through the smashed window.

In the corner of the room, there were two bodies huddled together for warmth. A young female, dark skin and bloodshot topaz eyes, tired eyes that had seen way too much for someone of her age. Her calloused hands working through the black hair of a small boy's, ruffling the tiny curls like feathers. Strands separating between the midst of her dirty fingers. The boy had a look of content on his face, as if there was nowhere else he would rather be. Quiet snores leaked out his open maw.

Clementine's mouth felt dry as a desert and her lips were cracked. A headache droned irritably at the base of her skull and her eyes stung from deprivation of sleep. She ground her teeth together and her eyes, alight with alarm, scanned the tiny room feverishly. Meeting the haunted look of her dishevelled appearance in the reflection of shattered shards of glass. Hair askew and face shiny with sweat. The vapour from her quick, short breaths were visible in the icy cold. Lee was stood in the corner - bathed in inky shadows. By his muddied shoes sat a wispy cloud of black smog that swirled and swallowed. Throbbing in a way that was incredibly alien to Clementine. His forearm was missing and his skin ashen. Dim, depressing and dead. A feeble trickle of misty blood dribbling down off his chin, hitting the floor and evaporating in a swift plume of smoke.

Her heartbeat rocketed, pounding against her ribs. Lee's head cocked to the side, leering and sneering at her. He took the first step and his leg crumbled into dust but he kept going. Moving like his leg was still there. Bits of his flesh peeled, flaking away from his body. Limb after limb shattering into nothing as it hit the ground until Lee was a mere millimetre away from her, their noses almost touching. She stared, frightened eyes bouncing and her features drained of all colour. Half of Lee's face had whittled away, decaying like a dead flower. Black with rot and his cragged teeth protruding through the weak grisly flesh of his cheek and lower jaw.

"You're going to fail." He said, rotten teeth clicking, tapping. His lone, foggy and charred hand landed on top of hers. A root of flinching frost settled over her skin. Unwillingly, she quivered. She felt weak, knees turning to jelly and she shook in place. Maternal instinct demanding her to roughly grab a handful of AJ's hair and squeeze as tight as she could. Just in case Lee was going to take him anywhere. Nothing was going to hurt him. The ghost of the man she held so dear looked back up at her. "You always do."

An icy chill washed through the room and the terrifying spectre was gone as quick as it had appeared. A desolate space left in its wake. Her tight grip weakened and AJ nestled his head further into her rapidly rising chest and mumbled inaudible words into the navy denim of her jacket. Clutching at the weathered fabric like a bundle of straws. He completely oblivious to what just happened and Clementine couldn't be more grateful. Her head rocked lightly against the hollow wall, a soft thud resounding through the room and an exhausted sigh staggered out her parted lips. She grimaced as the bird's singing mutated into painful caws and screeches of terror. Bony, undead fingers effortlessly tearing the animal apart. Chunks of rare meat splattering against the cobwebs stuffing the empty void where the window was. She had to be silent for a swarm of the undead was hunting outside.

She blanked the noises of round; crooked teeth shredding the flesh and began to focus on pulling the raggedy blanket up to cover her and AJ better. She wormed her arm around past AJ and seized the hem of the blanket, heaving it up. Remarkably, AJ slept through the commotion. She closed her eyes and started to relax. The wave of anxiety had reached its crescendo but hadn't collapsed upon her, however. She hadn't spiralled into yet another panic attack. The brunette was sure that would grab the attention of the walkers.

AJ stretched, mouth opening into a silent yawn as his bones popped into place. He swallowed and the glimmer of an uncomfortable wince flashed across his features.

"Throat dry?" She asked, looking down at him.

AJ nodded, closing his eyes.

"We'll find water soon." She replied, hugging the boy closer.

AJ seemed surprised by the gesture. "Are you... okay? You don't look the best and you're more grabby than usual."

"Yeah-" Her voice cracked, "Yeah, I'm okay. Always."

"No, Clem. You're not."

She stayed silent, averting her gaze and focusing on the broken bulb swaying in the gentle paws of the wind. Thunder boomed over the hills, and rain streamed down. Thundering against the sloped roof and forming a waterfall that drenched past the window. A moving barrier of liquid, distorting anything past it.

"You can be weak too."

She scrunched her eyes shut, craning her head to the side, "No, I can't." She croaked, voice hitching. "I want more than anything to rest but I just can't. It's impossible."

AJ shifted, resting his chin on her collar, the bone visible through her skin. A ball of disappointment replaced his irises and she knew he wanted her to explain. She won't. She would never willingly put her problems on his plate but would gladly take his. "Why are you up anyway?" She changed the subject, "You normally sleep a little longer."

"You. I don't like having my hair tugged."

Her eyes softened drastically. "Oh..." She muttered, "I-I'm sorry. I was just-" She stammered.

"It's alright, it was your trauma," AJ whispered, leaning further into her. "I forgive you."

"Thank you, Goofball." She yawned, closing her eyes.

Just as she was about to drift off for the first time in days, AJ's voice steered into her ears, "When was the last time you slept." 

Just then a loud bang reverberated throughout the room and she instantly scanned for the source, alert and prised to take action if needed. Her neck shot up in a flash of lightning and she saw a walker, its degrading hand scraping uselessly against slabs of scrap metal laid out against the wall, creating an ear grating noise. The water divided off its head, sloping off to each side. Reluctantly, she separated herself from AJ and stood, beginning to walk toward the walker.

Her fingers dug into the mushy flesh of the walker's head. "How are you gonna kill it?" AJ asked, appearing beside her, "You don't have a weapon."

"I don't." She confirmed, lifting the head up. The walker staggered, clawing uselessly at her. She got quite lucky with this one. Rigour Mortis seemed to have a disastrous effect on it. Its movements were even more clunky than normal. "Doesn't mean I can't use the environment."

Suddenly, she slammed its head onto a lone shard of glass. It tore through its brain and the walker went still, falling to the ground with a large thud and pulling the bloodstained shard down with it.

"AJ." She said suddenly, turning to look at the boy. She crouched down and placed a hand on his shoulder. Feeling the bone through the rags of barely held together clothing. "Promise me that you'll never put yourself at risk to try and save me."

"What?" AJ exclaimed, "Clem! I-I can't survive on my own!"

"Yes. You can. I just- I'm not worth saving. I've let so many people down, failed even more. I don't want to drag you down with me."

AJ tried to fight back, breaking away from her, "Doesn't seem like a bad place."

"Trust me," She responded, eyeing the figure of a degraded Lee that loomed above AJ, "It is. I don't want you to end up like me."

"What are you?"

She swallowed as Lee pushed his hand onto AJ's shoulder, "Haunted."


End file.
